How much work are you willing to put into the application process?

Anonymous

May 9,2022 at 2:14PM UTC

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How much work are you willing to put into the application process?

I saw recently that people are being asked to do work throughout the interview process more than ever — i.e. a skill-based test, providing a sample or creating something based on a brief.

Have you ever, as a job seeker or hiring manager, set boundaries for this kind of work (time-based or otherwise)? Do you ever find there's compensation that comes with this kind of work? How do you think we should handle this extra work that comes with the application process?

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AnonymousMay 9,2022 at 3:37PM UTC
Great topic and I'm curious to see what others say in this thread. As creative professional, it's not uncommon to get asked to provide some sort of "proof of work" to demonstrate your ability to do the job (even if you have a portfolio). My take is: these type of assignments shouldn't take up no more than 1 hr or so of your time. And, the prompt (if given) should be something useful enough to guide the candidate into producing a "draft" of a concept that they can speak to, not something that the company could "use" and profit off of. There's a lot of controversy around this subject because candidates get sucked into the hiring pipeline producing all these mini-projects/presentations (for different companies) and before they know it, they've ended up spending 20 hours+ doing all this work, and often, don't get the job. I'm not cool with that. If a portfolio isn't sufficient enough, then what's the point of these micro-exercises? I've been on both sides of the spectrum (producing projects during the interview process + being an interview panelists reviewing portfolios/ projects to hire a candidate) and I can't say that I believe that the project helped the candidate (or me). Any assignment that is going to take more than 1 hr to complete should have some monetary return for the candidate; it seems like the right thing to do given the hiring climate today. OR, companies need to reevaluate the way they hire for certain roles (I believe this is the biggest pain point, honestly).
AnonymousMay 9,2022 at 4:27PM UTC
It's tricky, because I've found the employer will often put a time limit on these sorts of things then the assignment takes forever to finish. I've been offered compensation which helps. I've offered to supply an already created sample, which they have taken. But the truth is, just like a resume or cover letter, they are looking for the person who will go above and beyond on these things. So if you can allow yourself to do a little extra, you will probably need it because the other person you are competing with will use this opportunity to "shine."
Joanne RosenMay 9,2022 at 5:49PM UTC
The whole interview process has become bizarre. We have clients who are asked to do so much work only to find out that the company hired internally or some other nonsense.
Personally, I was applying for a contract to create web content. I was asked to tell them my thought process for writing. It never occurred to me that they simply wanted to steal information.
I had to give them a sample for one of their pages. They said I was hired and would get back to me soon. *crickets*
My son had to put together a document in 24 hours, explaining how/why a specific engineering project should be handled. It was an actual project that took them MONTHS to build the plan.
I think job seekers need to start saying, No! You shouldn't have to dedicate a 40 hour week to apply for a job.
Just my two cents.
Cheers
Joanne
www.analtyicadvantagecc.com
Lesa Edwards, Career Coach & Master Resume WriterMay 9,2022 at 6:06PM UTC
Such a timely topic! I read recently that some employers are now compensating candidates for these kinds of things - I'm all for it.
The flip side of the equation is, are these extra steps actually producing a better winning candidate? Is all the extra work on both sides really reaping the desired results?
OR - are you in fact harming your candidate pool because the best candidates can get hired more easily elsewhere, or because the word on the street is that your organization is just too much trouble to get a job at?
Julie HumbirdMay 10,2022 at 9:38PM UTC
I have been hearing/reading this more and more. It feels predatory to me. I recently received an email from a recruiter requesting remote technical sessions where I direct them through an entire email migration (these can take up to a month for a small organization). Successful completion would land me an interview. lol No, thank you. My colleague recently applied at Google and was given a 3 week project requiring 3 hours active in their sandbox DAILY. He passed.
This is theft.
AnonymousMay 11,2022 at 10:54AM UTC
For me it's directly involved with how much I want to work for that company. For one fortune 500 company with a good reputation, I did go through multiple levels of testing. I do not give out work samples without digitally protecting them. I might digitally sign them, watermark them, encrypt them, password protect them, or send them via proton mail or certified mail. My take on it is that if the company wants me to go above and beyond for the job, they can do a little more too; and if they then decide to utilize a particular piece of work that is not theirs to use, then they are going to have to learn to hack it open. That stops most casual predators. I have heard of some tech workers demanding compensation for their time if asked to do code tests, etc.